I'll be interested to see how much guaranteed money the got. I always liked Baker, but don't see him contributing until the second half of the season. I wonder how many real offers he received? If you are looking for a chance to prove yourself on a one year deal, I don't think I would pick the Cubs.

Well, this is a little disappointing. I hope he does well with the Cubs. There are plenty of other pitching options available, so no harm. I think the Twins should offer a similar deal to Rich Harden. But, you know of course for less money and more "incentives"!

I'll be interested to see how much guaranteed money the got. I always liked Baker, but don't see him contributing until the second half of the season. I wonder how many real offers he received? If you are looking for a chance to prove yourself on a one year deal, I don't think I would pick the Cubs.

face it we are the poor american leaque version of the cubs , hey nice job terry lyan

Seriously though, I'm bummed to hear that Baker left and even more bummed to hear that this is the going rate for pitching.[/QUOTE]

I don't think this is going to be the conventional thing we'll see. One has to think the Cubs overpaid quite a bit to pry him away from the Twins, seeing as how much he liked it here. I really don't mind losing him. He's a huge question mark after TJ and the Twins are not in a position to gamble rotation wise.

$5.5M for one-year, plus incentives for a guy who had TJ in April? And now option year?

You're welcome to him Theo. Congrats to Scotty's agent.

I haven't seen anything that has said an option year. Plus, I don't see what that is so hard to accept as what is a normal deal in the MLB. Revenues have gone up and the cost of acquiring FA talent has gone up.

Roy Oswalt -- who was DOA in 2011 -- received a $5M contract with $1M in incentives to pitch from May onward of last year. Baker has a much higher upside if healthy and will likely be full strength by May or June. Not a bad deal for either side.

"You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time." -- Jim Bouton, "Ball Four"

$5.5M for one-year, plus incentives for a guy who had TJ in April? And now option year?

You're welcome to him Theo. Congrats to Scotty's agent.

I haven't seen anything that has said an option year. Plus, I don't see what that is so hard to accept as what is a normal deal in the MLB. Revenues have gone up and the cost of acquiring FA talent has gone up.

Roy Oswalt -- who was DOA in 2011 -- received a $5M contract with $1M in incentives to pitch from May onward of last year. Baker has a much higher upside if healthy and will likely be full strength by May or June. Not a bad deal for either side.

I mistyped. I meant "no option year."

The market for Baker was set by the deal Colby Lewis took a few months ago. Lewis has had better years than Baker, is coming off a smaller injury and is more likely to be 100% when teh season starts. And he took a $2M + $4M in incentive. Baker got nearly that much guaranteed.